UH plays a vital role in Hawaii’s first space launch

The University of Hawaiʻi has vital responsibilities for the first space launch from the State of Hawaiʻi, scheduled for October 2013. When the Super Strypi missile takes flight from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauaʻi, it will be carrying a satellite designed by University of Hawaiʻi faculty and students. UH will have also played a significant role in getting that satellite into space.

President M.R.C. Greenwood said, “Hawaiʻi is located in a unique position to become a low-cost gateway to space. The University of Hawaiʻi is one of the only universities in the world to have both satellite fabrication capabilities and unique, direct access to orbital space.”

For the state’s first space launch, the University of Hawaiʻi’s Hawaiʻi Space Flight Lab (HSFL) is the contractor for the launch facility, three rocket motor stages (designed and built by Aerojet), and a satellite to be placed into low-earth orbit. HSFL faculty and students are hard at work on HiakaSat. “Hiaka” means “to recite legends or fabulous stories” in Hawaiian. It is also an acronym for Hyperspectral Imaging, Aeronautical Kinematic Analysis. The 110-pound satellite is being designed to do a number of things including performing thermal hyperspectral imaging.

Greenwood said, “The work on this mission is creating invaluable workforce development opportunities and training for students across the University of Hawaiʻi System. In addition, UH is helping to develop Hawaiʻi’s space science enterprise. We hope our graduates will go to work for related research and technology companies right here in Hawaiʻi or will go on to form their own space-science related businesses.”

HSFL Director Luke Flynn says the university would like to be able to launch small satellites on a regular basis, which will attract companies that are looking for affordable ways to test space technology.

Flynn says, “The University of Hawaiʻi helps to hold down the cost by playing a key role in the research and development of space technology, which also gives students hands-on experiences. This creates a win-win for the university, for the country, for the state, and also for the corporations that are willing to invest.”